Research field

Sustainable Urban Development

Tampere University

Faculty of Management and Business, Faculty of Built Environment, Faculty of Social Sciences

Are you driven to create greener, smarter, and more inclusive cities? Are you interested in learning how experts in society, government, and technology can work together to design the cities of the future?

Cities are economic and cultural drivers, and home to an increasing majority of the world’s population. They also face complex challenges, including environmental issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, and social challenges such as social injustice and poverty. There are significant opportunities for urban development to tackle these global challenges, helping to create the sustainable cities of the future.

The Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Sustainable Urban Development is an international degree programme that provides students with multidisciplinary skills needed to understand—and actively shape—the urban world of tomorrow.

The Sustainable Urban Development degree programme will teach you how cities function, how they grow, and how to design solutions that make them more resilient, livable and just. Through the administrative sciences, social sciences and technology study streams, you have the opportunity to develop the skills to drive sustainable urban development. In addition, shared multidisciplinary courses teach you collaborative and interdisciplinary thinking required to solve complex challenges, while challenge-based courses provide hands-on opportunities to get involved in real urban development projects.

Learn more about studies and how to apply

Interested in our student association? Learn more about our SUD community on the Urbanum Instagram Page

Tampere Urban Blogs

Read about the experiences of SUD students as they work on real-life urban development projects in the Tampere Urban Labs

https://blogs.tuni.fi/sud-tampereuni/

Research

In the Sustainable Urban Development programme, students will have the opportunity to learn from award-winning teachers and leading academics who work to solve some of the key local and global sustainability challenges in the areas of social and administrative sciences and technology.

Together, the Sustainable Urban Development teaching team undertakes internationally-recognized and impactful collaborative research into areas such as:

Education for Sustainable Development
Climate and Environmental Justice
Climate Change Resilience and Adaptation
Urban Climate and Pollution
Health and wellbeing
Political Economy
Institutional Dynamics of Sustainable Urban Development.

Under the guidance of these academics, the programme equips students with the skills to undertake research into sustainable urban development.

For example, during the Tampere Urban Lab courses, students undertake research-based learning in collaboration with local stakeholders and academic supervisors to understand specific urban development challenges and design environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable solutions. Students also learn how to undertake independent research as part of their bachelor’s theses, researching a topic of their own choosing.

Cooperation

The Sustainable Urban Development degree program has been developed in collaboration with the City of Tampere and includes opportunities to learn about sustainable urban development beyond the traditional confines of the university.

Studies

At Tampere University, you will study in one of Finland’s most innovative urban environments, surrounded by leading researchers, hands-on projects and strong city and industry connections. Whether you are passionate about sustainable design, environmental policy, or community development, you’ll build a solid foundation for impactful work in both the public and private sectors.

Tackling complex sustainability challenges requires multidisciplinary thinking and problem solving. Sustainable Urban Development Bachelor’s degree students apply to study in one of three tracks:

Administrative Sciences

Social Sciences

Technology

All students take courses specific to their chosen track as well as shared courses. Track-specific courses provide students with the foundational knowledge and skills of the selected study stream, while shared courses help students understand the complex phenomena related to sustainable urban development from several perspectives.

The challenge-based Tampere Urban Labs are shared courses, run in collaboration with companies and public organizations such as the City of Tampere. In these courses, students engage with ongoing urban development projects, applying their skills to help local governments and communities understand and find solutions to real-life issues, and gaining valuable hands-on experience with urban professionals.

This balance of courses makes Sustainable Urban Development a unique programme, and ideal for students with interests beyond traditional disciplinary silos and a desire to make change happen.

Although much of the contents of the programme are common for all students, there are variations in the application criteria, study contents and the name of the degree granted after completing the programme. For more information on the tracks and admission requirements, see the pages for Technology, Social Sciences, and Administrative Sciences.

Upon completion of the bachelor’s studies, students will be automatically eligible to continue their studies for the master’s degree at Tampere University in Sustainable Transport (Technology), Comparative Social Policy and Welfare (Social Sciences), and Leadership for Change (Administrative Sciences).

Play the video on YouTube (opens in a new tab).

When applying, please choose one of the three fields as your focus.

Focus on technology

Focus on social sciences

Focus on administration

Urbanum

Urbanum is the Sustainable Urban Development student guild, and the heart of the Sustainable Urban Development community at Tampere University. As an Urbanum member, you will be part of an international, warm, welcoming and ambitious group of students who share your passion for cities, sustainability and making a real impact. Whether you are into engineering and technology, social change, or urban governance, Urbanum gives you a place to grow, create and have fun.

Urbanum plays a critical role in representing and supporting students and helps shape the academic experience in Sustainable Urban Development. Through curriculum development and coffee sessions with teachers, the close cooperation between the university and Urbanum means students can help shape their teaching and learning experiences.

Through Urbanum, students can get access to local and international excursions, sitsis, city walks, themed parties and networking events with professionals. There are opportunities to get involved, including organizing events, joining committees, representing the guild, or exploring leadership roles.

Alumni Stories

Story

Our alumni

Tampere University

Aurora Luukkanen, SUD Alumni 2024

Published on 12.12.2025

updated on 12.12.2025

Story

Our alumni

Tampere University

Veera Uusitalo, SUD Alumni 2024

Published on 12.12.2025

updated on 12.12.2025

Story

Tampere University

Jenna Tuominen, SUD Alumni 2024

Published on 12.12.2025

updated on 12.12.2025

Teachers and Administration

Sustainable Urban Development lecturers also serve as teacher tutors for their respective streams. In this role, they support smooth progress of the students’ studies, as well as the development of the students’ expertise and their attachment to the higher education community. Teachers actively use their networks to connect students with experts in the field. Pathways to working life are further strengthened through initiatives such as the annual thesis market on urban sustainability.